Bekker's Blog by Scott Bekker, Editor in Chief

Mango Madness: First Device Ships, 30K Apps, Developer Milestones

The Windows Phone "Mango" drumbeat is getting faster and louder. The latest developments:

Microsoft on Tuesday began accepting and certifying Windows Phone "Mango" apps through the App Hub, according to a blog post by Windows Phone executive Todd Brix.

"This means that new and existing titles optimized for Mango features like fast app switching, background audio, multiple and double sided Live Tiles, better Search integration and more will begin publishing in a matter of days," Brix wrote.

Also Tuesday, Microsoft announced that a release candidate (RC) of the latest software development kit (SDK) for Windows Phone "Mango" was available. Kurt Mackie has the details here, where he notes that the new RC version of the kit will support the previous build 7712 of Mango, and that it uses an emulator that supports the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) build of Mango (7720). The RC SDK also has a "Go Live" license allowing developers to submit their applications directly to the App Hub.

While the Windows Phone app marketplace lags way behind market leaders Apple and Google in terms of the number of apps, Microsoft's progress has been quite rapid. Brix provided a new milestone in his blog: "The nearly 30,000 Windows Phone app and game titles available today will also run on Mango." That's up from a 22,000-app count Microsoft was touting just a month ago at its Worldwide Partner Conference.

Brix hedged his developer milestone announcements Tuesday with this caveat: "Now that's not to say that Mango will arrive on existing devices in the coming days (sorry, not quite yet). It does, however, mean that people running early builds of Mango will see these new apps and games."

The key word there appears to be "existing." According to the site Winrumors, Microsoft's first Windows Phone Mango device went on sale in Japan today. The device in question is the Japan-only Fujitsu IS12T, a waterproof device that comes in several colors, including pink.

Meanwhile, more rumors surround a joint HTC-Microsoft announcement scheduled for Sept. 1. The event will reportedly mark the launch of several Mango phones by HTC.